JUDGE BORDWELL DEAD

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 3495, 3 November 1926, Page 12

JUDGE BORDWELL DEAD

DYNAMITE OUTRAGE RECALLED THE I.W.W. TERROR. SAX FRANCISCO, Oct. 4. The famous trial of the M’Namara brothers is recalled by the death, at Los Angeles, of Judge Walter Bordwell, at the age of 71. While few Judges in the West had left a greater mark on the times in which they moved. Judge Bordwcll was also a notable figure in the political and educational world_ Howover sensational the trial over which he was called to preside, however deeply stirred might bo the popular feeling on one side or the other, Judge Bordwell never permitted the rush of passion or pressure of influence to effect his judicial poise and even-handed justice. This was particularly noticeable in the trial of M'Namaras, who confessed in Judge Eordwell's Court to the great dynamite conspiracy of the international ironworkers’ union and the 1.W.W"., which culminated in the destruction of the Los Angeles “Times” building and the death of twenty of its men. It was in part duo to Judge Bordwell, although backed by unremitting efforts of District Attorney Fredericks, that the main conspirators were induced to confess their crimes at the price of saving themselves from the gallows. The part the Judge took .as presiding Judge over this case marked him as a jurist of exceptional penetration. A confession, rather than a conviction, was essential to lay the spirit of anarchy which had instituted a nation-wide reign of terror, and Judge Bordwell accepted the best sourse available to secure an indisputable verdict. J.os Angeles has lost a leading and lovable citizen, the Californian Bar Association has been deprived of one of its most brilliant members, and a host of friends will miss a familiar figure in the passing of Justice Eordweik.